Generational prospect Jahkeem Stewart keeps defying expectations and climbing at USC
Along the West Bank of the Mississippi, directly across the way from downtown New Orleans, there’s a levee that rises up beside the riverbank. At the top, about 40 feet up a steep, grassy hill, the skyline of the French Quarter unfurls into clear view over the river.
To run up the levee and gaze upon that view of downtown was something of a rite of passage for kids in the neighborhood. But to the boys trained by Clyde Alexander, it was sacred ground. They called it Mecca, and every week, they came to the same stretch of levee next to an abandoned warehouse where Mardi Gras floats were once built.
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Six years ago, before he was seen as a budding star at USC, Jahkeem Stewart stood at the base of that levee in Algiers on a muggy day, drenched in sweat. He was only 12 years old at the time, much younger than any of the other kids Alexander was training. He also happened to be 6-foot-4 and 360 pounds, bigger than any kid he’d ever seen at that age.
It didn’t require much imagination to see how scouts would one day declare him the rare defensive line prospect worthy of the word “generational.” Or how Stewart’s path, starting that day on the levee, would eventually lead him to USC, where his impact as a freshman was felt as soon as he joined the Trojans’ front.
But Alexander saw enough talent squandered in New Orleans to know that size and strength alone couldn’t ensure a ticket out. It’s why he was skeptical when a local travel coach contacted him, raving about a huge sixth grader he knew had the tools to be great. Video clips showed Stewart’s combination of size, strength and speed was unstoppable.
“The one thing you can’t teach on Planet Earth is size,” Alexander says. “What he has, that’s just God-given.”